He Holds a Rose from the Abyss

Chapter 14 – Night of the Fireflies

“I’m a lot more awake from the night breeze, I won’t be able to sleep when we go back, so why don’t we go and see the roses?” Sheffield suggested, “There are fireflies in the rose garden at the academy, have you seen them?”

Chi Lang shook his head.

“At half past three in the morning, maybe there are still some fireflies, would you like to go and see?”

Sheffield’s voice was very soft, as if it would dissipate in the night wind if you didn’t listen carefully, and the smile on his face was so sincere that Chi Lang felt that it would be a kind of sin not to accept his invitation.

“Okay,” Chi Lang agreed to him, he had just slept for a while, and now he was not very sleepy.

The rose garden was in the center of the school building, its perfect location allowed students to experience the fragrance of nature while traveling through the halls of knowledge.

It was late at night, and the only sounds in the rose garden were the constant chirping of insects and the occasional wind rustling through the leaves.

They walked in along the winding path, surrounded by the fragrance of roses.

“Was the opera you saw recently good?” Chi Long tried to find a bit of conversation, but unconsciously lowered his voice in this environment.

“It’s not bad. I heard that in a few days, there will be a reenactment of an opera that hasn’t been performed for a long time. I’m looking forward to this now,” Sheffield’s voice was also very light.

“I’m quite envious of you,” Chi Lang lowered his head, “I’ve been working as an assistant to Mr. Luth these days, and I’m so tired every day. Do you know how hard he works? I’ve hardly seen him out of the laboratory door…”

“I know.” Sheffield seemed to smile. “He is one of the most intellectually enthusiastic magicians I have ever met. From a certain point of view, he is quite admirable.”

“But I think these days are quite fulfilling,” Chi Lang began to conclude, “Say, people are really strange. I used to… not study seriously when I had a lot of time to study, but now that I can’t learn, I’m eager to learn something new instead.”

Sheffield was his first friend in this world, and Chi Lang was able to talk to him about almost everything he was feeling, and Sheffield was indeed a good listener who would always maintain eye contact with Chi Lang and would not show impatience.

They had reached the promenade in the rose garden, but they had not seen any fireflies.

“It seems that there are no fireflies today.” Chi Lang looked at the roses around him. All roses were hidden in the darkness, and only a few were illuminated by the moonlight.

But he didn’t feel sorry: “It’s okay, we can come and see it another day.”

Chi Lang suddenly heard the voice of someone speaking not far away, although he couldn’t hear it clearly, then Sheffield suddenly took his hand and led him to hide behind the promenade.

Chi Lang struggled a little, and Sheffield put his hand on his back: “Don’t move.”

Chi Lang didn’t dare to move, his back suddenly stiffened.

The sound of people talking was getting louder and louder, and a couple came up from the end of the path.

The girl whispered and complained, “I told you, it’s already 3:30, there won’t be any fireflies, they usually come at 7:00 or 8:00 in the evening.”

“There are too many people at seven or eight o’clock.” The boy scratched his head, “There are no fireflies, but there are roses, and roses are also beautiful.”

The girl was a little unhappy, but walking forward, the boy handed her a rose.

Her face flushed red: “Okay, I forgive you.”

Then they started kissing, under the moonlight, among the rose bushes, kissing.

Chi Lang withdrew his gaze, he was quite embarrassed about this scene.

Chi Lang wasn’t sure whether Sheffield laughed softly.

Fortunately, the couple didn’t kiss for a long time. When Chi Lang looked back, the two of them were holding hands and looking at each other and smiling.

Sheffield suddenly chanted a spell softly, with a casual smile on his face, as if he had just used a random magic.

Like in a dream, a few fireflies flew out from the rose bushes, their light was not bright compared to the moonlight, but this shimmering light was incredibly attractive to the eye.

Slowly, the fireflies flew out little by little, floating above the roses, and the whole rose garden was flooded with shimmering light in the mid-air.

It was as if stars had fallen.

The couple was obviously happy, and the boy said, “Look, there are still fireflies.”

The girl seemed to mutter a few words, but also laughed heartily.

They exchanged another kiss, surrounded by fireflies, and left holding hands.

Chi Lang was finally able to speak: “Did you do this?”

“Just a little illusion magic.” Sheffield looked at the group of fireflies, “But it’s beautiful, and they’ll be happier, I guess.”

“More importantly, you were invited to see the fireflies, I can’t let you miss the beautiful scenery,” Sheffield’s eyes were flooded with light, “although it’s fake, the pleasure the scenery gives is the same.”

Chi Lang looked at the group of fireflies and thought… perhaps one or two of them had flown into his own heart.

The road was not long, they soon came to an end, and Chi Lang felt a little lost in his heart.

Sheffield: “We can come again in the future. The rose blooming period in the academy is very long.” Before leaving, he broke a rose from the rose garden.

——read at moonlightnovels.com

When Chi Lang and Sheffield walked to the dormitory area, they unexpectedly found that the dormitory area was a bit noisy.

The further they walked towards their building, the louder the talking became, and when they got downstairs, Chi Lang first saw a large group of people gathered around the dormitory building.

It should be about four o’clock now, how can there be so many people? Chi Lang walked into the crowd and wanted to take a look inside.

Sheffield grabbed him again: “Don’t go there, let’s hear what others are talking about first.”

Chi Lang stopped, looked around again, and surprisingly saw Joyce.

He pulled Sheffield over and asked Joyce, “What’s going on? So many people?”

Joyce’s expression was complicated, and he frowned tightly: “Someone has had an accident.”

He used the word “accident”, which was a slightly euphemistic term for “death” in this language

Joyce glanced at Sheffield and turned his attention to the crowd: “Your building, that person suddenly had an accident at 3:30.”

Chi Lang heard “3:30” this time, and slightly felt a little uncomfortable: “What do you mean ‘suddenly’?”

“According to his roommate, the man screamed in his sleep and suddenly stopped breathing.”

The crowd made way for a few magicians to move the body out. Chi Lang glanced at the corpse, the dead man’s face was calm, as if he was asleep.

Joyce whispered: “Basically, we can be sure that it is necromantic magic, soul-related, just don’t know why it was suddenly used on this person at this time, in this place.”

“It’s just…” Joyce couldn’t find any words to describe it, and said a little dejectedly, “They didn’t put all of us in their eyes. They killed a person in the academy in such a bold manner, in a dormitory protected by a defensive magic formation.”

Although the corpse was removed, the crowd had not dispersed, and there seemed to be a dark cloud shrouded here.

People in twos and threes passed by Chi Lang and the others, accompanied by their discussions: “I heard that the murderous necromancer entered the dormitory door openly and without any cover up…”

His companion: “Really?”

“Really, that person’s roommate, when he woke up, he saw the necromancer, but the necromancer ignored him and left.”

“…”

“Is it true?” Chi Lang muttered in a small voice.

“It’s probably true,” Joyce looked at him and then at Sheffield. “By the way, why did you come back from outside so late?”

“I came back from the laboratory, and Sheffield came to find me.” Chi Lang suddenly felt a chill in his heart.

When he left the lab, it was exactly 3:30, and when he met with Sheffield, five minutes had passed at most. If we count ten minutes from the dormitory to the lab, Sheffield should have come out of the dormitory at 3:20.

The two of them, coincidentally, just missed bumping into that necromancer.

“Was it exactly 3:30 when that man died?” Chi Lang asked Joyce.

Joyce looked inexplicable: “I don’t know either, I’m not sure, it’s about that time.”

Sheffield did not say anything during this whole process, and seemed to smile somewhat apologetically at this time: “Sorry, I did not say it before, I did the customary practice of prophecy magic when I was in the dorm room, and felt that something bad would happen, so I came to you.”

That would explain it.

“But I didn’t expect this to happen.”

Chi Lang always felt that it was too coincidental. If he hadn’t met Sheffield, he might have met up with that necromancer right away if he went straight back to the dormitory.

Sheffield also brought up the idea of going to see the rose, as if, in order for him to avoid meeting up with that necromancer.

Sheffield also saw the corpse, he just glanced at it, and then averted his eyes. What concerned him more was the prying eyes in the dark. The necromancer, don’t know what kind of thoughts he had in mind, remained in the shadows and did not leave the place.

Sheffield looked at the crowd, illuminated by the moonlight, and felt a little dull in his heart.

The necromancer hid in the shadow.

Sheffield didn’t want to care about this. He wasn’t interested in this uninvited guest, and he didn’t want to say “the necromancer is still hiding here”, because it was very troublesome to explain that he could find the necromancer.

Sheffield was just a little concerned about the prying eyes of the uninvited guest.

Chi Lang turned his head to the right and was still looking at the crowd when Sheffield suddenly put his hand on his face and gently turned his head back to the front direction.

“Don’t look, go back to sleep,” Sheffield leaned over and said to him.

After Chi Lang said goodbye to Joyce, he pulled Sheffield away from Joyce and asked him in a low voice, “Sheffield, you actually knew that a necromancer was coming, so you came to find me, right?”

Chi Lang trusted him so much, Sheffield smiled: “That’s right. The result of the magic of the Prophecy Department at that time was,” his tone suddenly became cold, as if complaining 一 “someone was spying on my rose.”

It’s just that the latter part of his sentence was spoken so softly that it did not stand out in the noisy background sound.